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Tornado Lookouts

Meteorologists use radar to help
forecast where tornadoes might
form. But, the radar isn't
sensitive enough to detect actual tornadoes. People
are needed to
do that.
The National Weather Service can't rely on reports from any old person off
the street. These people don't have any training so they may not actually
see what6 they think they see. Instead, the Weather Service offers
classes that anyone can take to become part of SKYWARN, a network of
trained volunteer spotters. Meteorologists can trust the accuracy of the
trained spotter reports. If a tornado is spotted, they can issue a
tornado warning with a good degree of confidence.
Storm spotting is different than storm chasing.
Spotters work
in organized networks to observe, detect, and verify severe weather
events for the NWS and for local emergency managers. Local SKYWARN
organizations are run on a county level, so spotters usually stay within
or near their county.

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